Led by historian Roy Hensel

Did you know that Buffalo Bill once stayed in the Richmond Hotel on Broadway and Water Street or that Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Billie Holliday, and countless other famous African Americans stayed at the Hotel Metropolitan. Irvin Cobb always had a room ready whenever he came to town in the hotel named after him. Paducah in the late 1800s and early 1900s was a busy thriving town with many transient visitors from the trains and the riverboats in particular. All those people needed a place to stay and downtown had many hotels to accommodate them.

Historic Hotels of Paducah will showcase seven of these hotels which are long gone or have been repurposed. Come back in time and discover or even rediscover these elegant buildings where visitors and locals alike could be dined, entertained, and treated like royalty. Come dine at the Palmer House on caviar and then the entree of mallard duck or baked little pig with candied sweet potatoes which were just some of the delicious items on their menu in 1896. Learn about the Belvedere Hotel named after Paducah’s own famous beer.  Come back to the era of elegance in a long-gone era of Paducah’s history.

Roy Hensel is a retired teacher and an avid history lover. He is presently a board member of the McCracken County Library, the Market House Museum, and the Paducah Ambassadors. He gives tours of Oak Grove Cemetery and city tours for the passengers of the steamboats which frequent the riverfront. Having served on the Market House Theatre board twice, Hensel has been acting there for almost 39 years.

For more information contact Adult Programming Coordinator [email protected]  270-442-2510 x117.

All programs are free & open to the public